Regina shined on the red carpet of CineMAA awards in her Gaurang kanjeevaram sari. As much as I love the sari, the Diyaash diamond choker was the wrong choice for this look. We’d have picked an emerald and gold kundan necklace that sat lower on the neck here instead of the diamond one.

I am a huge fan of our national textiles, handlooms and weaves. And I appreciate whenever our celebs wear traditional sarees and traditional blouses. But there is nothing great about Gaurang Shah. All these different types of handloom saris and fabrics have been woven by our hardworking, extremely talented, creative and unacknowledged weavers of India from thousands and thousands of years. Respect, credit and acknowledgment should go to the weavers.

Exactly!!! Love you Bertie. *Clap Clap*
You are speaking what I am thinking.
Our country’s weavers and handicraftsmen should be respected and credited.
(Not these so called overrated ‘talentless’ designers).

i agree with the fact that our craftspeople have been creating beautiful weaves for generations now, and that they deserve a lot of appreciation and respect. but it also makes a big difference when someone works actively towards conservation of heritage crafts. it shines the spotlight on traditional crafts and pulls more people towards actual purchasing, which they might not otherwise have done. like ritu kumar, who not only helped revive a lot of techniques, but also made them accessible to a wider audience. designers also bring in their aesthetic sensibilities to bear refine, modify and re-interpret crafts to make them more contemporary and appealing to a wider audience. just saying.

+1. Absolutely agree with you Saki. There’s a certain sense of aesthetics that designers bring to a traditional weave. It could be the color combination or the size of the boota or the border size. I say so because my mom owns a boutique and own hand looms. She pretty much “designs” the saree color combination, pallu design, border, boota etc. She uses the traditional motifs but she’s the designer who does all the permutation-combination of the saree and the weavers just follow her instructions. So in that sense Gaurang Shah must have done the permutation-combination of this traditional dates. And of course the fact that more and more celebrities are wearing traditional weaves in the name of designer wear is just the perfect way to popularize the traditional weaves among the masses

The body design is not even Kanjeevaram. Maybe the silk is. Anavila is different and really “designed”. Linen is not common for saris and they use modern motifs. saki, agree that the label makes people buy and revives old traditions. But it would help if the craftspeople were identified or acknowledged.

The body design is either ‘pochampalli’ or ‘patola’. The pallu might look like a Kanchivaram but I am not sure. So what this designer here has done is taken two/ three different weaves from (andhra/Gujarat/Tamil nadu) and calls it his work and adds an unaffordable price tag to it. This is how I see it, all three weaves are fabulous on their own and you can find great combinations and designs if you look in the right place at good prices. Why can’t someone promote them as it is and show what talent and workmanship goes it into bringing out each piece? Why can’t they have stars/celebrities popularize that? That will be truly respecting the artist instead of making a mishmash of things under the name of creativity. Of course creative freedom is a right but it would be great if some of these people can promote things as they are. thanks .

The body design is pochampally from Telangana state and the border is Kanjeevaram from Tamilnadu. So this is what Gaurang has done. I don’t know what is the greatness about it.
Well said ‘Mrsa’. What you said is 100% true. Touche.

It is more complicated than that apart from buying directly from weavers cooperatives. Nalli is also a brand name and their designs also change so it is not a fixed design for kanjeevaram. But Ikat is not from TN so calling this a kanjeevaram is a little misleading. Every generation wants a new spin so now we have designer sarees. Its OK but there should be more effort to indicate origin and type.

I agree. Good points. Also, Kanchivaram saris are considered superior and costliest because the threads are dipped in actual gold. So the designs, motifs or whatever they call it might vary to do a fusion but if the threads are of gold I think that is considered as pure Kanchivaram silk. I think you can do a silk test to find it out.

There is a website called thealternative(dot)in
It guides you Where to buy genuine Indian handloom online.
It gives some websites one can buy the finest weaves in the country.
These people are doing a fantastic job by cutting the middle men out and
giving the benefits to the artisans and weavers who are actually
toiling to make these things happen.

The verb shine has two main definitions: (1) to emit light, and (2) to cause to gleam by polishing. In its first sense, shine traditionally becomes shone in the past tense and as a past participle. In its second sense, shine is traditionally inflected shined. So, for example, we might say, “The sun shone brightly while I shined my shoes.”
She therefore “shone” on the red carpet, unless she was running a shoe-shine business on the side as well.

LOL! I cant stop laughing at the last line. Yes it should have been shone. There is nothing mean about it, it is rather sarcastically funny (or offensive depending on the person reading) which even P&P are known for in their write ups . There is nothing wrong to correct the sentence since English is the widely used language of communication in India and the only communication language of this blog.

Saree is lovely, the blouse the necklace… all umm…. no… dont care for it sorry 🙁
Is this the new fashion statement? Were rubies with a purple saree? types? No connection?
There is a cavity between the necklace and her neck

Necklace looks more like neck braces. 😛 Opting for a single line of pearls and a small Bindi would have made it complete. It looks mismatched and somewhat incomplete. Yeah I know for religious reasons some don’t wear Bindi but I think I have seen her sporting bindis elsewhere.